Starting Now
by Rhylin Sweet
Summary: Sanji and Usopp meet at a beach party thing and they totally hit it off. A few bumps and scrapes along the road. But its all good. SanUso NaVi ZoNa ZoLu
1. Now

Its 4:46 am. Ok. The setting is uh. A bar by the beach. Miami is a kool place to live.

**Now**

"You can't drown your sorrows in beer all night long" Zoro signaled the waitress for another beer and replied "Just watch me" Sanji sighed and searched his pockets for his lighter.

The blonde looked out the window at the beach. Outside he saw bonfires and teens dancing, kissing, and having sex right out on the sand. He could be out there. Getting phone numbers and having sex, but _no, _he was here. Inside. Helping his friend recover from a nasty break up. For the tenth time.

"She'll come back. She always comes back" Lighting one of his 'cancer sticks' as Zoro called them, Sanji glared at the table. "You're right. She always comes back. But _you _have to stop taking her back. You're just as bad as Tashigi! She comes crawling back and you take her back in. Roronoa Zoro you, my friend, are an ass" Zoro gave Sanji a hard, cold glare. His green eyes burned into Sanji's blue ones. Giving a great sigh and downing the rest of the bottle, Zoro pushed the empty container away and said "What canI do? I have nothing left"

The assistant chef grinned. He was _finally_ getting through to him! "Easy. You get someone else. Some one ten times better." The green haired teen gave Sanji a strange look. "I don't know anyone better than her…" Sanji look a long drag from the cigarette and chuckled. "Correction. You don't know any _girls _better than Tashigi" Zoro coughed and panicked. "Uh Sanji…we're just friends…nothing more, nothing less" The blonde looked horrified at the mere conceptfor a split second before hastily controlling his features.

"Me and you? Eww. No. thanks but no thanks. I like having all my brain cells. But in all honesty, you can get anyone you wanted if you just tried. Girl or boy. Teacher or student…hmmm. Why not that Mihawk guy? He's kinda hot. nice accent too."

Zoro almost up chucked. "NO! NEVER! If it's all the same to you, I'll look for someone else on my own" Smoke billowed from Sanji's nostrils as he muttered something about 'ruining his fun'

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"C'mon Usopp! Get up and dance or something! You're always drawing" Brushing back black hair the boy called 'Usopp' looked up at Luffy and Nami. "No" The red head girl snatched his pencil and dangled it in front of him. "Thief! Give back my pencil!" Nami cackled madly. "Never! Not until you dance at least one song with me" Luffy stood by with his hands behind his head, grinning. "Just do it buddy." Getting up and brushing sand off his pants Usopp muttered to himself "You're only doing this to make Vivi jealous…." "What was that?" "Nothing"

After 3 songs Usopp was ready to get back to his sketch pad when a cool blonde asked politely for a dance. At first Usopp couldn't believe his eyes. Sanji. Right in front of him. He had 2 sketch pads filled with him and him alone. Sketches and watercolor, all paled in comparison to the real thing, which was right in front of him. So much better close up,

Then half way across the room in history class.

The raven haired boy had thought he was talking to Nami, but the boys blue eyes were narrowed at him, not the girl.

Needless to say the artist forgot about his art for a while and reveled in Sanji's hands on his hips, guiding him. He smelled of spices and aftershave, all wonderful. He was too embarrassed to look up into his face so he opted for staring at everything but him. But…when he did look at the blonde, he would smile and Usopp's world would dissolve like butter, and Sanji's grip on his hips tightened to keep him steady.

Nami was flirting shamelessly with Zoro. The kendo captain was falling deeper and deeper into her trap with ever word. Their bodies close together and whispering so no one else could hear.

Luffy was being Luffy. Give him a couple of beers and he was everywhere. Dancing, eating, talking, eating, singing, eating, dancing. One guess on what he did the most.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Sanji was about to burst. It'd taken him a while to figure out why this hottie looked so familiar. He was the guy from history class. Amazing. After coaxing the brooding kendo captain from the bar, he'd spotted a cute red head talking to someone on the sand, a tall dark haired guy beside her.

He watched the figure stand up from the sand and brush it off. He'd held his breath. Breathtaking features were in a frown as the girl led his new obsession to where others were dancing. While Zoro fended off whores and sluts, Sanji focused on the dark haired boy and watched his hips moves and his body sway. Nice.

After the third song, the blonde dragged Zoro across the beach with him to where the action was.

He was dancing barefoot in the sand with some cute guy from school.

God. To dance with him. Because the sand was uneven, the beauty slipped a bit, so Sanji chose to place his hands on his hips. Just to touch him.

As the songs grew more fast, more people came to dance. They were soon pushed up against each other, feeling the other's warmth. He didn't know what the other was feeling, but he knew what he was feeling something strong.

Sanji took the other teen's hand and pulled him from the crowd and onto the sidewalk.

When he gave Sanji a look, he shrugged "Too crowded" he nodded. Then they started to walk. It was silent for about ten minutes before the dark haired boy spoke. "You don't even know my name"

The blonde blinked and patted his pocket for a cigarette. "I'm-"

"Sanji, I know. It's hard to forget someone who pops up in every conversation" Sanji grinned. "I'm Usopp" "Nice to meet you"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

After the introductions were over and done with we talked a lot. Of course he knew all of this stuff already. Word gets around fast in school. But it was much better to hear it from his lips. Sanji dispelled some rumors with the truth and asked Usopp about himself. So there they were. Just walking and talking they didn't even notice where they were going.

Then the blonde whipped out his keys and the artist look up at a set of apartments. He gave Usopp a sheepish look. He only melted and nodded.

Sanji took his hand and led him up to the apartment. _I'm in his apartment. Breathe…breathe…_

Sanji disappeared into the kitchen. "You want something?" Usopp chuckled darkly at what had conjured in his mind from those words. Sanji flopped back on the couch and pushed a can of soda in his hands. "What's so funny?" "Nothing"

…………………………………………

He hated awkward silences.

He didn't have to worry about it anymore when Sanji leaned over to kiss him

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Sanji had gotten tired of it. He was just _there_, all hot cute. So he kissed him. He didn't expect a response that wasn't a slap. Usopp had melted in his arms and a groaned. That's what did it. That screwed him over.

The blonde had picked up the slender boy and carried him to his room and plopped him on the bed. Usopp landed on the bed with a slight bounce, hair flying over his face.

Staring at the boy, whose tanned skin contrasted with the white sheets as he gently pushed his hair back, undid him. For real this time. Unsnapping his jeans Sanji asked in a heated whisper "You ever done this before?"

The boy seemed a bit confused then said "Yes. Only once though." _Once? If he's not complaining, neither am I._ Sanji laid on top of the dark skinned beauty and took his mouth in a bruising kiss. Unbuttoning the jeans, Sanji slipped his hand inside and gripped the hot length, causing the boy beneath him to jerk and moan.

Licking the other shell of his ear Sanji whispered "I wanna hear you scream"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

_Wow. Wow. Amazing. _

Usopp had wriggled his way out of Sanji's possessive grasp and was standing next to bed, surveying the mess and Sanji's sleeping figure. He ignored the aches in his body and stared at everything in range. He wanted to engrave this in his mind and sketch it later.

His dark eyes riveted back to the blonde on the bed. The sheet was barely hiding his lower half while the blonde hugged the pillow and slept on, blonde hair spilling over the white pillow. The artist felt himself blush. The things he _did_! The things Sanji had taught him and…wow. He'd never forget this night. Ever.

But what if Sanji did? He didn't think of Sanji as a shallow person. But they'd just met and they…went all out. In the end Usopp just decided to write his number on Sanji's hand and get dressed.

Taking one last look at his (One time?) lover the slender boy closed the door and started towards home.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Sanji didn't like waking up alone. He expected to see that face smiling at him when he woke. Alone. Nothing but the smell paints and a warm imprint on the bed for comfort. And even that sucked.

Mmmm. Usopp had been so responsive to everything he did. He liked that. A lot. And his hair was so curly and stringy. He liked it a lot when Usopp would turn his head sharply and the strands would be splayed across his cheeks.

Getting out of bed and stretching, Sanji made his way to the bathroom. After doing his business, he washed his hands. This had become a reflex after working as an assistant chef since five. Somewhere in his sleepy mind he wondered why the water was blue. Water was not blue. Was he dreaming?

Turning off the water, Sanji lifted his hand and saw in horribly faded ink the name "Usopp" and some numbers. He could barely read a thing. Oh god. Usopp had taken the time to write his number down and he washed it off! Shit!

After cursing himself out thoroughly, the blonde stared at the unreadable print on his palm. He'd always see him again in history class. Sanji clenched his hand into a fist.

Till then!

**End**

I made this long and pointless. Shoot me NOW. Yea.


	2. To Meet Again

Hn. My obsession wit SanUso is spreading…spreading…like a virus. Sounds icky don't it? okaiz let's hit it!

**To Meet Again**

It'd been a whole weekend. A whole _weekend._ That's two days. _Two _days with nothing but memories and fierce anticipation and determination. Zoro had called him around ten that morning after Usopp had left, demanding to know where he'd gone, with whom, and how good it was.

Sanji replied with, Home, A hot guy, and better than he'd ever be. Normal day. After Zoro explained in detail how he almost got clocked by a girl with blue hair for touching her girlfriend, he started to tell how Nami broke the bluenette's heart in front of a huge crowd and latched onto him, calling him her boyfriend. Of course Sanji laughed his little blonde ass off.

Enough of Zoro's fucked weekend. Sanji was on a damned mission. In his determined mind finding one boy in a school of over 2500 students shouldn't be this hard. **(My school has about 3000 kids in it. Yea. VERY crowded) **But that's just him. He _could _wait till history class, which was his last class. The blonde cackled madly. _At the end of the day? _Sanji didn't think so.

Right before they parted ways at school, Zoro had told him he was acting like a stalker. Sanji patted his breast pocket for a cigarette. _Stalker my ass._ He was concerned. He turned a corner and waved to some girls absent-mindedly. After writing his number down and not getting a call all weekend must've made him think Sanji was a bastard. Hmm…

Twisting through the growing crowd and trudging up the stairs the blonde found himself on the third floor. Not as crowded as the first two floors, but annoying just the same.

After staring at every dark haired boy he could see, and not finding Usopp, he gave up. He'd have to wait till the end of the day. Damn.It.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"I'm not sulking" Nami tapped Usopp in the head with a pen.

"Are too"

"Are not"

"You are _so _sulking"

"Am NOT!"

"If I say you're sulking, YOU'RE SULKING!"

The artist backed down. _Damn Nami…and her scary loud voice…_

Luffy tilted his straw hat upwards as he looked through Usopp's sketch pad. Stopping at a page Luffy pointed "Wow. You outdid yourself this time buddy" "Lemme see" Nami snatched the book and Luffy howled at a paper cut. Tea brown eyes scanned the page and widened slightly. "Oh Usopp, Luffy's right! You went all out in this one." Pointing at the figure on the bed in the picture she asked "Is that the guy you left with? Sandwich or something?" Taking his book back Usopp muttered "Its Sanji, not Sandwich. And _yes_ and I _did_ leave with him."

Sticking her tongue out at him, Nami took Luffy's hat. "You know it's not dress code. And neither is that!" She pointed at the green bandana Usopp prepared to tie on his head. "We don't care about the dress code! And it seems you don't either" Luffy pointed at the red head's too short skirt. Blushing a bit, Nami stuttered "Mine isn't as noticeable! Hats and bandana's are not dress code. And it's unfashionable anyway. Luffy it's a _straw_ hat, and Usopp, your bandana is _green_. No fashion sense at all."

While Luffy and Nami bickered about dress codes and fashion, which he found boring yet funny, his thoughts drifted towards Sanji and what conspired in his apartment.

He hadn't gotten a call from him all weekend. Not that he was expecting it, because he wasn't. _Liar…_Usopp hadn't really expected a call, but he'd been hoping. Sanji must not find him attractive. That thought made his shoulders sag as he leaned against his locker. Maybe no, maybe so. _But he seemed so interested in me. I thought he'd call. I guess not._

He probably ignored the number he wrote on his hand and forgot he ever met him. Usopp chuckled. It wasn't like Sanji had accidentally washed it off. Only an idiot would do that. The dark haired boy laughed outright. That's it. He didn't wash off his number by accident. He just didn't care, didn't like him, and didn't think he was special. Sanji wasn't that stupid to wash it off by _accident. _Was he?

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

To Sanji's amazement and delight, he didn't have to wait till lunch to see Usopp again.

On his way to lunch he saw that slender figure leaning on some lockers talking to the redhead and the other boy from Friday night. Perfect…

As he was making his way towards them, he noticed that the redhead saw him, who poked the other boy, which caught Usopp's attention. Sanji smiled when his eyes met Usopp's, and his smile only grew when he blushed. The red head tugged the boy with the straw hat and dragged him away, smirking.

It didn't cross the blonde's mind about what he was going to do until he stopped in front of the tanned boy. What was he doing anyway? What could he say? 'I think you're wonderful but I accidentally washed your number off my hand' Lame. He'd probably think he was an idiot. Still…the truth was the truth…basically he had no other excuses.

"I didn't call" wonderful start. Usopp looked away. "I know. It's ok. I didn't expect you to call anyway" Sanji snorted and took out a cigarette. "Let's go to the field"

Side by side they walked outside and sat on the bleachers of the football field. A few minutes of calm silence passed by. "You lied" Usopp looked confused. "If you hadn't expected me to call, you wouldn't have wrote it in the first place" Head bowed, the artist looked sheepish "I guess so" Sanji lit the 'cancer stick' and exhaled deeply. "It doesn't matter" Sanji gulped. "I accidentally washed off your number that morning"

Sanji immediately snubbed out his cigarette when Usopp started coughing. He thumped the dark skinned boy on the back. "You ok?" "Yeah" "Was it the smoke?" "No, not really" When the raven haired boy coughed, Sanji had the suspicion that it was a disguised giggle.

After that, they talked and talked. They mostly talked about _that_ night. The blonde couldn't stop staring as Usopp described in detail about his feelings. The way his eyes lit up and how his cheeks darkened fascinated him to no end.

"So you're on the track team?" Usopp nodded. Sanji pictured him in some red running shorts. Short…shorter…_shorter_…yeah. He planned to go to every track meet. "I'm the best runner on the whole team. But I don't like pressure so I'm not captain. Are you in any sports?" Sanji shrugged. "I used to be on the soccer team. But I accidentally kicked this guy in the face. So yeah…"

Usopp laughed and Sanji thought it was the most wonderful sound ever. "What other school junk are you in?" The artist pouted "It's not junk" Sanji chuckled "_Sure_…"

The dark haired boy huffed and ticked off activities on his fingers. "Track team, Art club president. Not much pressure in that. And the science club…and the wood shop club and an editor on the school newspaper."

Sanji's eyebrows came together. "That's…a lot." Usopp shrugged. "Not really. So, are you in anything?" "Not really. Cooking club president and that's it. I have too much to do to waste time on school." Usopp leaned back on the bleachers. "I guess so"

Standing up, Sanji stretched and stood behind Usopp for a moment. Then he sat down and pulled the artist into his lap. The blonde smirked when his 'prey' ducked his head to hide his spreading blush. "Maybe I'm crazy, but I think this could work out. What do you think? The natural order of dating is screwed in our case but it could work right?"

He felt the slender boy wriggle to get comfy in his arms. "I'd like that"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Usopp briefly wondered if he'd get a detention for melting into water in class. Every time he looked up he caught Sanji staring at him. When their eyes met, he'd smile and lick his lips. The reaction was him melting in the chair and sketching furiously in the book. Sanji hadn't seen the picture he'd drew of him in the room, but he planned too. Soon as he found the courage to do it. Making a short line for the start of Sanji's hair, his mind flitted back to the conversation they'd had before lunch ended.

"_I like your hair"_

"_It's curly and ugly"_

"_It's curly and not ugly. I love it"_

"_Whatever you say. So what happens now?"_

"_I don't know. Let's go see a movie"_

"_When? What kind"_

"_On Friday. A horror"_

"_H-h-horror?"_

"_You don't like horror movies?"_

"_S'not that…"_

"_Great then! We'll work out the details later."_

Hm. Then Sanji had kissed him and skipped off. Yes. He skipped. He never really knew Sanji before this…occurrence…but he knew him enough _now_, to know that he _didn't _skip. He felt warm inside, to cause such a change in one person.

Like a reflex, Usopp hopped up and zoomed out the door when the bell rang. He ignored Ms.Preston's screeches about dress code and waited outside the room for Sanji to come out. Seeing the smile that was just for him, Usopp smiled back.

**End**

Wow.

About the whole Track team thing. I mean C'MON! Usopp spends practically the whole series running from everything. It's OBVIOUS that he'd be the fastest runner EVER. Obviously. Besides- Ussop and Short Short Running Shorts means Hotness. Lotsa Hotness.

ok guyz and galz. Do what you do best!


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